UK regional retailer Booths said it has seen an improvement in trading after booking a “modest” increase in full-year sales.

The retailer said today (2 November), sales rose from GBP270.3m (US$433.4m) to GBP273.6m in the year to the end of March. Sales this year “continue to improve”, it added, with the group recording sales growth of 4.2% in the last 12 weeks.

Chairman Edwin Booth said trading since year-end has improved for Booths since it “opted out of the price war which has engulfed the grocery sector”.

“Consumers were buying as much as they could on deals and were increasingly attracted to offers on single lines as opposed to multi-buys,” he said.
 
“Rather than reduce more prices, Booths started to develop initiatives centred on its core expertise -high quality food and drink. These have already started to drive improved profitability in the present financial year.”
 
The retailer opened two new-format stores in Penrith in Cumbria, and at the BBC’s MediaCityUK complex in Salford in the year. The group has also begun a GBP2m rebrand of all 28 of its stores.